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Rob Westcot, Bellevue, Washington

59 Mk1

click for larger picture

I have had these shots of my "new" MK 1 for awhile, the shots
were taken last July at the Washington ABFM at Marymore Park in Redmond.
The MK 1 took a first place in the JCNA Concours class 9.

The '59 MK 1, Chassis number S993096DN was built on the 3rd of July
in 1959, it was a left hand drive model with disk brakes and first registered
as UKV910 in the U.K. by a distributor named Mr. E. Rountree. Within a
year or so it found it's way to the US and was acquired by a Doctor living
on Mercer Island, just a few miles East of Seattle, Washington and I was
fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time when it was
sold last June.

The car was originally cream color but the recent respray to a dark
metallic gray was what caught my eye. Most of the difficult work was done,
engine, interior, stainless exhaust, chrome, suspension, brakes, even the
original tube type radio was reconditioned. All the parts and pieces were
there including the original U.K. tax stamp, operators handbook, Overseas
distributor and dealers manual, as well as a service manual and parts manual.
Every screw and piece that had ever been removed was carefully sorted and
stored in plastic bags in the trunk, it was like slipping into a time warp
and finding a 30 year old new car.

A friend had called me to come over and just take a look at it, I was
amazed at how nice it was so I asked if he would drive me home just so
I could get a short ride.

I don't know if it was the surprising punch from the well tuned engine
or the sound of the throaty new exhaust system but something prompted me
to go in and tell my wife to come out and take a look. She came outside
with her Mum, took about 2 steps out the door and said "buy it".
She has a very good eye, well honed from the dozens of hours working on
our MK 2 getting it ready for Concours events over the past 8 years. It
could very well have been the fact that it was a disk wheel car and would
be much easier to work on than the spokes on the MK 2 but the decision
was made in an instant and the car stayed right there with us that night.

The car is an excellent "driver" and I don't intend to go
crazy with detailing the engine but it also took a first place in class
9 at the JCNA Concours 2 weeks later. A delightful bonus for a wonderful
car. A wag has asked when I intend to buy an "S" type to round
out the collection of small sedans but I am resisting with all my might.

It just goes to show that there are still some bargains out there that
will sneak up behind you when you least expect them, all you have to do
is be ready to adopt them.